Fast molecular outflow from a dusty star-forming galaxy in the early Universe.

Galaxies grow inefficiently, with only a small percentage of the available gas converted into stars each free-fall time. Feedback processes, such as outflowing winds driven by radiation pressure, supernovae, or supermassive black hole accretion, can act to halt star formation if they heat or expel the gas supply. We report a molecular outflow launched from a dust-rich star-forming galaxy at redshift 5.3, 1 billion years after the Big Bang. The outflow reaches velocities up to 800 kilometers per second relative to the galaxy, is resolved into multiple clumps, and carries mass at a rate within a factor of 2 of the star formation rate. Our results show that molecular outflows can remove a large fraction of the gas available for star formation from galaxies at high redshift.

Author Correction: A massive core for a cluster of galaxies at a redshift of 4.3.

Change history: In this Letter, the Acknowledgements section should have included the following sentence: "The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.". This omission has been corrected online.

A massive core for a cluster of galaxies at a redshift of 4.3.

Massive galaxy clusters have been found that date to times as early as three billion years after the Big Bang, containing stars that formed at even earlier epochs1-3. The high-redshift progenitors of these galaxy clusters-termed 'protoclusters'-can be identified in cosmological simulations that have the highest overdensities (greater-than-average densities) of dark matter4-6. Protoclusters are expected to contain extremely massive galaxies that can be observed as luminous starbursts 7 . However, recent detections of possible protoclusters hosting such starbursts8-11 do not support the kind of rapid cluster-core formation expected from simulations 12 : the structures observed contain only a handful of starbursting galaxies spread throughout a broad region, with poor evidence for eventual collapse into a protocluster. Here we report observations of carbon monoxide and ionized carbon emission from the source SPT2349-56. We find that this source consists of at least 14 gas-rich galaxies, all lying at redshifts of 4.31. We demonstrate that each of these galaxies is forming stars between 50 and 1,000 times more quickly than our own Milky Way, and that all are located within a projected region that is only around 130 kiloparsecs in diameter. This galaxy surface density is more than ten times the average blank-field value (integrated over all redshifts), and more than 1,000 times the average field volume density. The velocity dispersion (approximately 410 kilometres per second) of these galaxies and the enormous gas and star-formation densities suggest that this system represents the core of a cluster of galaxies that was already at an advanced stage of formation when the Universe was only 1.4 billion years old. A comparison with other known protoclusters at high redshifts shows that SPT2349-56 could be building one of the most massive structures in the Universe today.

Galaxy growth in a massive halo in the first billion years of cosmic history.

According to the current understanding of cosmic structure formation, the precursors of the most massive structures in the Universe began to form shortly after the Big Bang, in regions corresponding to the largest fluctuations in the cosmic density field. Observing these structures during their period of active growth and assembly-the first few hundred million years of the Universe-is challenging because it requires surveys that are sensitive enough to detect the distant galaxies that act as signposts for these structures and wide enough to capture the rarest objects. As a result, very few such objects have been detected so far. Here we report observations of a far-infrared-luminous object at redshift 6.900 (less than 800 million years after the Big Bang) that was discovered in a wide-field survey. High-resolution imaging shows it to be a pair of extremely massive star-forming galaxies. The larger is forming stars at a rate of 2,900 solar masses per year, contains 270 billion solar masses of gas and 2.5 billion solar masses of dust, and is more massive than any other known object at a redshift of more than 6. Its rapid star formation is probably triggered by its companion galaxy at a projected separation of 8 kiloparsecs. This merging companion hosts 35 billion solar masses of stars and has a star-formation rate of 540 solar masses per year, but has an order of magnitude less gas and dust than its neighbour and physical conditions akin to those observed in lower-metallicity galaxies in the nearby Universe. These objects suggest the presence of a dark-matter halo with a mass of more than 100 billion solar masses, making it among the rarest dark-matter haloes that should exist in the Universe at this epoch.

Frequency multiplexed superconducting quantum interference device readout of large bolometer arrays for cosmic microwave background measurements.

A technological milestone for experiments employing transition edge sensor bolometers operating at sub-Kelvin temperature is the deployment of detector arrays with 100s-1000s of bolometers. One key technology for such arrays is readout multiplexing: the ability to read out many sensors simultaneously on the same set of wires. This paper describes a frequency-domain multiplexed readout system which has been developed for and deployed on the APEX-SZ and South Pole Telescope millimeter wavelength receivers. In this system, the detector array is divided into modules of seven detectors, and each bolometer within the module is biased with a unique ∼MHz sinusoidal carrier such that the individual bolometer signals are well separated in frequency space. The currents from all bolometers in a module are summed together and pre-amplified with superconducting quantum interference devices operating at 4 K. Room temperature electronics demodulate the carriers to recover the bolometer signals, which are digitized separately and stored to disk. This readout system contributes little noise relative to the detectors themselves, is remarkably insensitive to unwanted microphonic excitations, and provides a technology pathway to multiplexing larger numbers of sensors.

South Pole Telescope optics.

The South Pole Telescope is a 10 m diameter, wide-field, offset Gregorian telescope with a 966-pixel, millimeter-wave, bolometer array receiver. The telescope has an unusual optical system with a cold stop around the secondary. The design emphasizes low scattering and low background loading. All the optical components except the primary are cold, and the entire beam from prime focus to the detectors is surrounded by cold absorber.

Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and glutathione biosynthesis in non-tumorigenic and tumorigenic rat liver oval cell lines.

Glutathione synthesis and growth properties were studied in the gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase(GGT)-negative, non-tumorigenic rat liver oval cell line OC/CDE22, and in its GGT-positive, tumorigenic counterpart line M22. gamma-Glutamylcysteine synthetase (GGCS) activities were comparable. Growth rates of M22 cells exceeded those of OC/CDE22 cells at non-limiting and limiting exogenous cysteine concentrations. A monoclonal antibody (Ab 5F10) that inhibits the transpeptidatic but not the hydrolytic activity of GGT did not affect the growth rates of OC/CDE22, and decreased those of M22 to the OC/CDE22 level. In GSH-depleted M22, but not in OC/CDE22 cells, the rate and extent of GSH repletion with exogenous cysteine and glutamine exceeded those obtained with exogenous cysteine and glutamate. With Ab 5F10, repletion with cysteine/glutamine was similar to that obtained with cysteine/glutamate. Repletion with exogenous GSH occurred only in M22 cells, and was abolished by the GGT inhibitor acivicin. Repletion with gamma-glutamylcysteine (GGC) in OC/CDE22 was resistant to acivicin whereas that in M22 was inhibited by acivicin. Repletion with exogenous GSH or cysteinylglycine (CG) required aminopeptidase activity and was lower than that obtained with cysteine. Unless reduced, CG disulfide did not support GSH repletion. The findings are compatible with the notions that (i) GGT-catalyzed transpeptidation was largely responsible for the growth advantage of M22 cells at limiting cysteine concentration, and for their high GSH content via the formation of GGC from a gamma-glutamyl donor (glutamine) and cyst(e)ine, and (ii) aminopeptidase/dipeptidase activity is rate-limiting in GSH repletion when GSH or CG serve as cysteine sources.

High-performance liquid chromatographic assay of hydroxyl free radical using salicylic acid hydroxylation during in vitro experiments involving thiols.

A HPLC method was developed to monitor the production of hydroxyl free radical (*OH) produced during in vitro experiments: (i) a chemical reaction involving EDTA chelated ferric ion and various exogenous and endogenous thiols [glutathione (GSH) and its metabolites], and (ii) an enzymatic reaction corresponding to the breakdown of GSH catalyzed by gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT). The method relies upon the use of a selective trapping reagent of *OH: salicylic acid (SA). The three resulting dihydroxylated products, i.e., 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB), 2,5-DHB and catechol, were measured in an ion-pairing reversed-phase HPLC system coupled with amperometric detection; the sum of the three concentrations was used to quantify the production of *OH during in vitro experiments. Resulting data demonstrate that *OH is produced during Fenton-like reactions involving thiols and GSH catabolism via GGT.

Inhibition of the hydrolytic and transpeptidase activities of rat kidney gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase by specific monoclonal antibodies.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAb) against the native form of rat kidney gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) were isolated by screening hybridomas with rat kidney brush-border membrane vesicles. They were directed against protein rather than sugar epitopes in that each recognized all GGT isoforms. All of them inhibited partially the enzyme activity of GGT. They were specific in that they inhibited the rat enzyme, but not the mouse or human enzyme. Kinetic analyses were carried out with free GGT and GGT-mAb complexes with d-gamma-glutamyl-p-nitroanilide in the presence or absence of maleate, or in the presence or absence of alanine, cysteine, cystine or glycylglycine as gamma-glutamyl acceptors. mAbs 2A10 and 2E9 inhibited the hydrolytic and glutaminase activities of GGT and had little effect on the transpeptidation activity of the enzyme, whereas mAbs 4D7 and 5F10 inhibited transpeptidation, but not hydrolytic or glutaminase activities. mAb 5F10 mimicked the effect of maleate on GGT, in that it inhibited transpeptidation, enhanced the glutaminase activity and increased the affinity of the donor site of GGT for acivicin. Such mAbs may be useful for long-term studies in tissue cultures and in vivo, and for the identification of GGT epitopes that are important for the hydrolytic and transpeptidase activities.

Gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase-dependent mutagenicity and cytotoxicity of gamma-glutamyl derivatives: a model for biochemical targeting of chemotherapeutic agents.

Many carcinomas in humans are rich in gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), a plasma membrane enzyme that reacts with extracellular substrates. Thus, biochemical targeting of chemotherapeutic agents may be achieved by converting anticancer drugs into their gamma-glutamyl derivatives. Chemical conversion of phenylhydrazine (PH) and biochemical modification of daunomycin (DM) into their gamma-glutamyl derivatives gamma-glutamyl phenylhydrazine (GGPH) and gamma-glutamyl DM (GGDM) resulted in the abolishment of their mutagenicity and cytotoxicity, as judged by decreased viability and increased mutant yields in cultures of several Salmonella Ames strains. Commercial gamma-glutamyl-p-nitroanilide (GGPNA) was not toxic or mutagenic. Mutagenicity and/or cytotoxicity of these gamma-glutamyl derivatives were restored upon reaction with GGT, with concomitant release of PH, and p-nitroaniline (PNA). The GGT-dependent release of DM from GGDM was demonstrated by thin layer chromatography (TLC), spectral analysis, and specific mutagenicity. Mutagenicity and/or cytotoxicity of gamma-glutamyl derivatives increased in the presence of glycylglycine, a GGT activator, and decreased in the presence of serine-borate, a GGT inhibitor. GGDM retained considerable DNA binding capacity. Its inability to kill and mutagenize was due to altered transport properties. The results are compatible with the notion that gamma-glutamylation is a feasible method for biochemical targeting of drugs containing a primary amino group to GGT-rich tumors.

Promotion of glutathione-gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase-dependent lipid peroxidation by copper and ceruloplasmin: the requirement for iron and the effects of antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes.

Oxidative damage (lipid peroxidation, LPO) induced in a completely defined system containing glutathione (GSH), purified gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), and EDTA- and ADP-chelated ferric iron was enhanced by catalytic amounts of cupric ions and by ceruloplasmin (CP). The enhancement depended on GSH concentration, GGT activity, the presence of iron, and the chelation of copper by o-phenanthroline. High concentrations of CP inhibited LPO. Cu- and CP-enhanced, GSH-GGT-driven LPO was inhibited by the chain-breaking radical scavengers butylated hydroxyanisol, alpha-tocopherol, and Trolox C (a synthetic analog of alpha-tocopherol) but not by the hydroxyl scavenger mannitol. Ascorbic acid increased LPO in the presence of Cu or CP. Cu-enhanced LPO was partially sensitive to superoxide dismutase but not to catalase or horseradish peroxidase. The results indicate that Cu and CP enhance thiol-driven LPO and promote thiol-dependent mutagenesis by a very similar, if not the same, mechanism and are in agreement with the idea that this enhancement is due to redox reactions of chelated Cu and Fe, rather than to the reactivity of Cu in the Fenton reaction.

Role of copper and ceruloplasmin in oxidative mutagenesis induced by the glutathione-gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase system and by other thiols.

Glutathione is activated to a mutagen by gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase. Other thiols, such as cysteine, penicillamine, cysteine ethylester, and cysteinylglycine, are direct mutagens in the Ames Salmonella mutagenicity test. Thiol mutagenesis is oxidative in nature and involves H2O2 and possibly hydroxyl radicals. Transition metals are crucial for thiol autoxidation. The role of copper and ceruloplasmin (CP) in thiol-dependent mutagenesis was studied in Salmonella typhimurium strain TA102. Cu and CP at low concentrations enhanced thiol-dependent mutagenesis in the presence, but not in the absence, of added Fe. The degree of enhancement depended on the type of thiol. At high Cu or CP concentrations, thiol mutagenesis was inhibited. Cu also decreased the mutagenicity of H2O2. Cu- and CP-enhanced mutagenesis were inhibited by radical scavengers, catalase, and peroxidase but not by superoxide dismutase. The effects of Cu and CP on thiol-dependent mutagenesis were similar to their effects on thiol-driven lipid peroxidation. The results indicate that the role of Cu and CP in the enhancement of thiol mutagenesis is the facilitation of the transfer of electrons from a thiol to iron, rather than in catalysis of the Fenton reaction.

The role of chelators in the catalysis of glutathione-gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase-dependent lipid peroxidation by transition metals.

A gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase-glutathione (GGT-GSH) system induces transition metal-dependent lipid peroxidation (LPO). The role of the transition metals iron and copper in this system was studied by determination of LPO rates, the rates of Fe3+ reduction, and the steady state concentration of Fe2+ as function of concentration of o-phenanthroline or citrate. Optimum curves were obtained, compatible with the idea that Fe2+ chelated by an entity other than o-phenanthroline or citrate is important in thiol-driven LPO. Cu enhanced LPO at low concentrations, inhibited LPO at high ones, and catalytically elevated the steady state concentration of Fe2+. Relating the steady states of Fe2+ at various chelator concentrations with those of LPO rates, indicate that a Fe(2+)-O-O-Fe3+ complex may not be the principal oxidizing entity. The above, and the resistance of LPO to catalase, superoxide dismutase and mannitol are compatible with the notion that the Fe which participates in redox cycles is chelated to an entity that may be refractory to the action of these antioxidants.

Structure-activity relationships in the mutagenicity and cytotoxicity of putative metabolites and related analogs of benzene derived from the valence tautomers benzene oxide and oxepin.

A series of putative metabolites and related analogs of benzene, derived from the valence tautomers benzene oxide and oxepin, was tested for mutagenicity (reversions to histidine prototrophy and forward mutations to resistance to 8-azaguanine) and for cytotoxicity by the Ames Salmonella mutagenicity test. Benzene was not mutagenic in either assay. The benzene oxide-oxepin system and benzene dihydrodiol induced point mutations but not frameshifts. 4,5-sym-Oxepin oxide, which is a putative metabolite of the oxepin valence tautomer; 3,6-diazo-cyclohexane-1,6-3,4-dioxide, a synthetic precursor of sym-oxepin oxide; and transoid-4,11-dioxatricyclo(5.1 0)undeca-1,6-diene, a stable bridge-head diene analog of sym-oxepin oxide, were toxic but not mutagenic in both assays. 4H-Pyran-4-carboxaldehyde, a stable acid catalyzed rearrangement product of sym-oxepin oxide, was not mutagenic and much less cytotoxic than sym-oxepin oxide. Stable analogs of the valence tautomer benzene oxide, namely syn-indan-3a,7a-oxide and syn-2-hydroxyindan-3a,7a-oxide, were mutagenic and induced point mutations. All compounds were cytotoxic to Salmonella. Firstly, the apparent decay times of these chemicals, especially that of sym-oxepin oxide, were surprisingly longer than expected, as judged by quantitative plate diffusion assays. Secondly, it is concluded that if benzene oxide is further metabolized in its oxepin tautomeric form, toxic but not mutagenic products are formed. Thirdly, the relatively weak mutagenicity of benzene oxide may be mainly due to its instability and corresponding low probability to reach intracellular polynucleotide targets, whereas stable analogs of benzene oxide are relatively more potent mutagens.

The effects of antioxidants and enzymes involved in glutathione metabolism on mutagenesis by glutathione and L-cysteine.

The effects of small molecular weight antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes on the mutagenicities of glutathione (GSH) and L-cysteine were studied in Salmonella typhimurium strain TA102. GSH and cysteine mutagenesis were inhibited by antioxidants and radical scavengers such as alpha-tocopherol, Trolox C, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), and retinyl acetate. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) had no effect, but catalase and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) inhibited mutagenesis. The heat-denatured enzymes had no effect on mutagenesis. Cysteine mutagenesis was enhanced by native and by heat-denatured rat-kidney post-mitochondrial supernatant, and by ferric ions. H2O2 and the H2O2-generating system of glucose-glucose oxidase (GOX) were mutagenic in TA102. Synergistic increases in mutagenesis were obtained in systems containing combinations of GSH or cysteine, with either H2O2 or the H2O2-generating system of glucose-GOX. GSH peroxidase (GPX) had no effect on mutagenesis of GSH or of H2O2, whereas the synergistic increase in mutagenesis by a combination of GSH and H2O2 was effectively inhibited by GPX. The results suggest strongly that, at least in biochemically-defined systems, GSH and cysteine mutagenesis are oxidative in nature, and involve reactive forms of oxygen and/or other radicals.

Detection of conformational changes in rat kidney gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase by an antibody against a synthetic peptide belonging to part of the reactive centre of the enzyme.

Polyclonal antibodies were produced against rat kidney gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and against a synthetic peptide corresponding to residues 512-534 in rat GGT. The anti-peptide antibody bound denatured GGT, acivicin-treated GGT and GGT absorbed to microtiter plates, but not GGT in solution, and did not inhibit GGT. The antibody against native GGT inhibited its activity in solution and did not bind efficiently adsorbed GGT in direct ELISA. It was active in direct and competition ELISA using kidney brush border membranes as the adsorbed antigen. The results indicate that these antibodies recognize conformational rather than sequence epitopes in GGT, and that marked changes occur in the conformation of GGT upon its absorption to plates or its reaction with acivicin.

Localization of oxidative damage by a glutathione-gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase system in preneoplastic lesions in sections of livers from carcinogen-treated rats.

Previous studies from our laboratories have shown that catabolism of glutathione (GSH) by gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) in the presence of transition metals leads to oxidative damage (OD). This damage is exemplified in vitro by GGT-dependent GSH mutagenesis which involves reactive oxygen species and by GGT-dependent accumulation of lipid peroxidation (LPO) products in systems containing polyunsaturated fatty acid and GSH. In order to test whether catabolism of GSH by membranal GGT in enzyme-altered preneoplastic hepatic lesions can induce oxidative damage in situ, and to test whether the OD is localized in these lesions, 21 day old Fischer rats were treated with 12 mg/kg diethylnitrosamine (DEN) followed by 0.1% or 0.25% phenobarbital (PB) in the diet. Cryostat sections were examined histochemically for GGT-rich hepatic lesions. Adjacent sections were incubated with GSH and iron and examined for areas staining for lipid peroxidation. Distinct LPO-positive areas were shown to correspond well with the GGT-positive hepatic lesions. Promotion with 0.25% PB led to increasing proportions of LPO-positive lesions with time among GGT-positive lesions. The visualization of LPO in GGT-rich hepatic lesions depended on the presence of GSH and iron, and was not observed following chelation of iron by diethyl triaminopentaacetic acid (DTPA), in the presence of acivicin, an inhibitor of GGT, or in the presence of the radical scavenger butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The factors affecting GSH-GGT-dependent LPO in the GGT-rich foci were identical to those affecting GSH-GGT-driven LPO in vitro, and were similar to those affecting oxidative GSH-mutagenesis catalyzed by GGT. The results indicate that metabolism of GSH by GGT in preneoplastic liver foci can initiate an oxidative process leading to a radical-rich environment and to oxidative damage. Such damage may contribute to the processes by which cells within such foci progress to malignancy.

Glutathione metabolism by gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase leads to lipid peroxidation: characterization of the system and relevance to hepatocarcinogenesis.

Glutathione (GSH)-driven lipid peroxidation (LPO) in vitro was catalyzed by gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT; EC 2.3.2.2.). The reaction required iron, iron chelators and oxygen, was accelerated by glycylglycine (gly)2, a GGT enhancer, and was inhibited by the GGT inhibitors serine--borate and acivicin. LPO occurred at rat plasma concentrations of GSH and transferrin, and in the presence of putative physiological chelators such as citrate and ADP. GSH-driven LPO was inhibited by butylated hydroxytoluene, but not by catalase, peroxidase or superoxide dismutase. These results suggest that metabolism of GSH initiated by GGT may lead to oxidative damage. Such oxidative damage may be induced in vivo by GSH in proximity to GGT-rich preneoplastic foci in rat liver.

Oxidative metabolism of glutathione by gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and peroxisome proliferation: the relevance to hepatocarcinogenesis. A hypothesis.

Much has been learned about the function of glutathione (GSH) and other thiols as antioxidants, radioprotectors and radical scavengers. Recent reports point out that GSH and other thiols are double-edged swords: they induce the formation of free radicals and oxidative damage. Such damage is responsible for most, if not all, genotoxicity of GSH to bacteria, and probably to mammalian cells as well. The activation of GSH to an oxidative mutagen and induction of oxidative damage by GSH are catalysed by gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), an enzyme appearing very frequently in enzyme-altered foci in livers of rodents, shortly after their exposure to carcinogens. It is proposed here that such GGT-dependent oxidative damage may help in the promotion stage in tumourigenesis, and in that its function may be similar to that of peroxisome proliferators as promotors of hepatocarcinogenesis.